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ORATIOi^ 


DELIVERED   BEFORE    THE 


lil^  iountil  m\h  §iimm  nl  Jnslon^ 


ONE   HUNDRED   AND   NINTH   ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE   DECLA- 
RATION  OF   AMERICAN   INDEPENDENCE, 


JULY    4,    1885, 


THOMAS     J.     GARGA:Nr. 


PRINTED    BY   ORDER    OF    THE    CITY    COUNCIL. 

MDCOCLXXXV. 


CHURCHILL* 
BOSTON. 


3805 


CITY   OF   bosto:n^. 


In  Board  of  Aldermen,  July  6,  1885, 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Cit}'  Council  are  due 
and  are  hereby  tendered  to  Thomas  J.  Gargan,  Esq.,  for 
his  able,  interesting,  and  eloquent  Oration  on  the  occasion 
of  the  one  hundred  and  ninth  anniversary  of  American 
Independence,  and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy 
of  the  same  for  publication. 

Passed.  Sent  down  for  concurrence.  August  27,  came 
up  concurred.  Approved  by  the  Mayor,  September  2, 
1885. 

A  true  copy. 

Attest : 

"  AUG.   N.    SAMPSON, 


ORATION. 


Mr.  Mayor  and  Fellow-  Citizens  of  Boston :  — 

One  hundred  and  nine  years  ago  this  morning 
George  the  Third  was  King  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  and  of  the  British  Colonies  in  North 
America;  yet,  before  the  setting  of  the  sun  on 
that  day  the  fairest  portion  of  his  JN^orth  Ameri- 
can colonists  had  forsworn  their  allegiance,  and 
declared  their  independence.  That  proclamation  of 
independence  they  made  good  by  seven  long  and 
painful  years  of  unequal  war.  We  rejoice  and 
congratulate  each  other  that  we  have  lived  to  see 
the  auspicious  opening  of  another  Independence 
Day.  The  large  audience  assembled  here;  the 
multitudes  that  have  suspended  their  ordinary 
labors  and  fill  the  streets  of  this  great  city,  and 
of  every  city,  town,  and  hamlet  in  the  several 
States  and  territories  of  the  Union;  the  thousands 
of  faces  aglow  with  joy  and  sympathy,  —  attest 
and  proclaim  that  the  day  and  the  events  which 
it  commemorates  have  left  a  deep  impression  in 
our  hearts,    and  that   this  generation   of  Americans 


6  ORATION. 

has  not  forgotten  the  teachings  of  the  fathers. 
It  is  fitting  and  appropriate  that,  on  the  anni- 
versary of  such  a  memorable  day  in  our  annals, 
we  should  indulge  somewhat  in  retrospection. 
The  English-speaking  people  have  had  two  great 
epochs  in  their  history  which  materially  affected 
their  liberties,  —  not  only  their  liberties,  but  the 
liberties  and  governments  of  the  civilized  world. 
The  first  epoch  was  in  the  early  part  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  when  the  barons  of  England 
determined  to  resist  the  doctrine  of  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  and  the  assumption  that  the 
king  could  do  no  wrong.  Several  conferences 
had  been  held  with  King  John,  and  finally  the 
barons  assembled  at  Saint  Paul's,  in  London, 
where  Stephen  Langton,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, who  had  been  appointed  by  the  pope  to 
that  see,  despite  the  opposition  of  the  king, 
called  them  to  order,  and  read  to  them,  and 
commented  upon  the  provisions  of  the  Great 
Charter  of  England.  They  answered  by  loud 
acclamations  of  approval,  and  Langton  admin- 
istered the  oath  by  which  they  bound  themselves 
to  each  other  "To  conquer  or  die  in  defence  of 
their  liberties."  The  terms  of  the  charter  were 
at   first   indignantly   refused   by   King   John.       He 


JULY4,1885.  7 

exclaimed,  after  hearing  it  read,  "  They  might 
as  well  have  demanded  my  crown. "  But  the 
assemblage  at  Stamford,  in  Easter  week  of  the 
year  1215  of  the  barons,  and  two  thousand 
knights,  their  esquires  and  followers,  with  Robert 
Fitzwalter  at  their  head,  and  the  march  to  and 
occupation  of  London  by  the  barons,  brought 
the  king  to  a  sense  of  the  real  condition  of 
existing  affairs,  and  a  time  and  place  were  ap- 
pointed for  a  conference.  At  Runnymede  the 
king  met   the   barons. 

On  one  side  stood  Fitzwalter  arid  the  majority 
of  the  barons  and  nobility  of  England  ;  on  the 
other  side  the  king,  and  eight  bishops  and  fifteen 
gentlemen,  as  his  trusty  advisers  ;  and  there  the 
king  most  unwillingly  signed  the  great  charter  of 
English  liberties,  —  signed  for  you  and  for  me  and 
for  all  men.  Those  liberties  are  now  the  common 
property  of  all  nations.  The  charter  provided  that 
the  subject  should  be  secure  in  his  person,  liberty, 
and  property;  that  he  should  not  be  deprived  of 
either  without  due  process  of  law;  that  the  courts 
should  no  longer  follow  the  person  of  the  king, 
but  be  held  in  some  certain  place  ;  confirmed  to 
all  cities,  boroughs,  and  towns  the  enjoyment  of 
their   ancient   liberties    according   to    the    terms    of 


8  ORATION. 

their  charters,  and  reaffirmed  the  right  of  trial 
by  jury.  Looking  down  six  centuries  of  time, 
enjoying  as  we  do  the  full  blessings  of  liberty, 
we  can  appreciate  the  importance  of  that  day's 
meeting  at  Runnymede.  There  not  only  King 
John,  but  all  kings  were,  for  the  first  time,  de- 
feated by  the  people  ;  there  the  first  real  battle 
was  fought;  there  the  first  real  victory  won.  The 
principles  embodied  in  the  charter  were  not  new. 
The  English  people  were  simply  demanding  that 
the  king  should  observe  the  prerogatives  of  the 
fathers  which  a  succession  of  kings  had  gradually 
usurped.  Though  the  charter  had  been  signed, 
the  battle  was  not  ended.  It  was  not  supposed 
that  its  terms  would  be  cheerfully  observed  by 
King  John,  who  believed  that  it  had  been  wrung 
from  him  by  force.  Yet  he  was  too  diplomatic 
to  show  his  displeasure  openly;  and,  while  he 
appeared  to  conform,  he  secretly  intrigued  and 
endeavored  to  nullify  the  provisions  of  the  charter. 
]^or  were  his  successors  any  the  less  tenacious 
of  what  they  considered  their  kingly  rights.  It 
required  no  less  than  thirty-eight  successive  rati- 
fications to  give  the  provisions  of  the  charter  the 
full  force  and  efiect  of  law.  But  the  people 
deeming   therein   was   the  expression   of  their  just 


JULY    4,     1885.  9 

rights  the  great  charter  prevailed,  and  was  the 
precursoi*  of  the  American  Dechiration  of  Inde- 
pendence, which  marked  the  second  great  epoch 
in  the  history  of  EngHsh-speaking  people.  As 
the  great  charter  was  the  dawn,  so  the  Declara- 
tion was  the  full  noon  of  Liberty's   day. 

From  Runnymede  to  Philadelphia  was  five  and 
a  half  centuries,  —  centuries  full  of  toil  and  trouble 
and  battle  for  the  right.  Every  privilege  which 
we  enjoy  has  been  obtained  by  strife.  The  strife 
and  battles  are  not  equally  distributed.  One 
generation  battles  through  all  its  life  for  a  prin- 
ciple; the  next  enjoys  the  fruits  of  the  battles 
in  peace,  and  too  often  undervalues  the  sacrifices 
of  its  predecessors.  So,  during  those  centuries,  in 
England  there  were  alternate  periods  of  battle  and 
peace  to  preserve  and  maintain  the  great  charter, 
and  to  acquire  the  still  further  right  of  the  people 
to  assemble  in  parliament  and  make  their  own 
laws.  One  of  the  advantages  which  accrued  from 
the  ]^rorman  conquest  was  the  insistance  of  the 
right  of  local  self-government,  which  the  JNTormans 
brought  from  home,  and  to  which  they  clung  with 
great  tenacity.  That  custom  was,  after  the  last 
mass  on  Sunday,  and  the  congregation  were  dis- 
missed from   religious    service,    to  assemble    on  the 


10  ORATION. 

common  or  green  in  front  of  the  church,  and 
discuss  the  questions  of  new  roads,  local  rates, 
and  taxes,  and  all  matters  appertaining  to  the 
material  welfare  of  the  people  of  the  parish. 
Here  we  find  the  first  trace  of  that  democratic 
institution  which  spread  through  many  parts  of 
England,  and  which  the  colonists  brought  over 
with  them  to  Massachusetts,  and  which  was  the 
origin  of,  and  is  known  in  our  day  as,  the  l^ew 
England  town-meeting.  The  Massachusetts  Bay 
colonists  modified  the  ]^orman  town-meeting  to 
this  extent:  they  attemjited  to  establish  a  kind  of 
theocracy,  —  a  government  of  Church  and  State. 
In  the  Plymouth  colony,  as  a  condition  of  receiv- 
ing the  franchise,  the  candidate  must  have  been 
of  "sober  and  peaceable  conversation,  orthodox 
in  the  fundamentals  of  religion."  The  govern- 
ment was  a  strange  admixture  of  the  Old  and 
the  l^ew  Testament,  and  a  combination  of  the 
Hebrew  and  the  English  common  law.  But  the 
later  colonists  brought  with  them  substantially 
the  government  by  town-meeting,  —  the  germ  of 
our   whole   system   of    democratic   government. 

The  events  which  led  uj^  to  the  American 
Revolution  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
have   been    so  often  repeated   by  the    great  orators 


JULY    4,    1885.  11 

of  the  Republic,  —  and  great  they  were;  our  poets 
have  sung  of  them  in  majestic  verse;  our  writers 
have  lovingly  given  us  all  the  details  and  the 
inner  hves  of  the  principal  actors  in  that  great 
dramatic  epoch  of  our  history  :  so,  on  each  re- 
curring Fourth  day  of  July,  the  story  has  for  us 
a  new  interest,  a  fresh  charm.  We  see,  as  it 
were,  before  us,  in  imagination,  the  'New  England 
colonists  landing  at  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts 
Bay;  the  men  from  the  north  of  Ireland  peo- 
pling I^ew  Hampshire;  the  Quakers  at  Pennsyl- 
vania; Lord  Baltimore  and  his  English  and  Irish 
Catholic  colony  at  Maryland;  the  Cavaliers  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  Carolinas  and  Oglethorpe  at  Georgia, 
—  all  brave,  sturdy  men,  planting  colonies  that  con- 
tinued to  grow  and  flourish  despite  the  indifierence 
and  neglect  of  the  English  government.  "  Owing  her 
nothing,  but  through  a  wise  and  salutary  neglect 
generous  nature  was  suffered  to  take  her  own 
way  to  perfection."  We  see  on  the  north  and 
west  the  efforts  of  France  to  establish  a  new 
empire  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  great 
lakes;  Champlain  and  Montmorenci,  with  intrepid 
courage  and  daring,  by  exploration  and  occupa- 
tion,   extending    the    boundaries    of    ^ew   France; 


12  ORATION. 

La  Salle  and  Joliet  discovering  the  Mississippi 
river  from  the  north;  and  the  final  efforts  of  all 
the  French  commanders  to  push  eastward  the 
boundaries,  until  the  clash  of  arms  came  which 
ended  at  Quebec  in  the  death  of  "Wolf  and 
Montcalm,  and  forever  ended  the  dream  of  the 
empire  of  ^ew  France  on  the  J^Torth  American 
continent. 

With  the  peace  of  Paris  the  flag  of  England 
floated  over  a  vast  and  princely  domain,  extend- 
ing from  the  frozen  north  to  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico, from  the  Atlantic  on  the  east  to  the  Missis- 
sippi river  on  the  west;  yet  the  Te  Deum  had 
been  scarcely  finished  at  Saint  Paul's,  the  pealing 
of  the  bells  or  the  echoes  from  the  salvoes  of 
artillery  at  London  ceased,  in  honor  of  the  rati- 
fication of  that  treaty,  when  the  king  and  his 
ministry  began  to  dismember  the  empire  which 
had  cost  them  so  much  of  blood  and  treasure  to 
acquire. 

In  1763  George  III.  and  his  ministers  talked  of 
America  as  the  brightest  jewel  in  the  British  crown. 
But  the  Hanoverian  King  of  England  still  believed 
with  Louis  XIY.,  "I  am  the  State;"  and,  without 
examination  of  the  colonial    charters,  he   demanded 


JULY    4,     1885.  13 

that  Parliament  should  tax  the  colonists  for  the 
expenses  of  the  late  war;  but  the  king*  had  yet 
much  to  learn  of  the  temper  and  character  of 
his  American  subjects.  The  days  of  King  John 
and  the  divine  rights  of  kings  had  long  since 
vanished.  Kumors  of  the  attempted  imposition  of 
taxes  by  the  British  Parliament  had  crossed  the 
seas,  and  early  in  1764,  at  the  May  town-meeting 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  before  it  was  known  that  the 
stamp  act  had  passed,  Samuel  Adams  read  these 
instructions  from  Boston  to  her  representatives: 
"  There  is  no  room  for  delay  if  taxes  are  laid 
upon  us  in  any  shape  without  our  having  a  legal 
representation  where  they  are  laid.  Are  we  not 
reduced  from  the  character  of  free  subjects  to 
the  miserable  state  of  tributary  slaves?  AVe  claim 
British  rights,  not  by  charter  only;  we  are  born 
to  them.  Use  your  endeavors  that  the  weight 
of  the  other  ^orth  American  colonies  may  be 
added  to  this  province,  that  by  united  application 
all  may  obtain  redress."  We  know  how  futile  were 
the  efforts  of  the  provinces  to  obtain  redress.  It 
did  seem,  upon  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act,  that 
the  British  ministry  had  a  lucid  interval,  and  were 
preparing  to  adopt  a  statesman-like  policy.  It 
was    a    brief    interval,    indeed,     and     the     breach. 


14  ORATION. 

gradually  widened;  the  British  House  of  Commons 
refused  with  scorn  even  so  much  as  to  receive 
petitions  from  the  colonies  of  Connecticut,  Rhode 
Island,  Virginia,  and  Carolina,  remonstrating 
against  the  passage  of  unjust  tax  laws.  Such 
being  the  temper  of  the  British  Parliament  the 
colonists    had  no    alternative   but   resistance. 

In  1765  the  delegates  from  nine  colonies  met  at 
'New  York.  From  South  Carolina  came  the  mes- 
sage: "There  ought  to  be  no  New  England  man, 
no  New  Yorker  known  on  the  continent,  but  all  of 
us  Americans."  The  people  did  not  feel  that  they 
were  rebelling  against  authorities  or  law^;  they  be- 
lieved that  the  crown,  the  ministry,  and  the  parlia- 
ment were  violating  their  ancient  charters.  They 
w^ere  not  refusing  to  pay  a  just  proportion  of  a 
war  debt;  they  wanted  to  assess  that  debt  upon 
their  own  people,  according  to  the  local  laws  and 
usages  of  the  colonies,  or  to  have  representation 
in  the  general  Parliament.  The  colonists  had  few 
friends  in  England;  there  were  Chatham  and  Fox,. 
Col.  Barre  and  Burke,  —  a  brave  minority  in  Par- 
liament, —  who  seemed  to  compi-ehend  the  gravity 
of  the  situation,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  task 
the  king  and  his  ministers  had  undertaken.  In 
vain    did   Mr.  Burke   plead   for    reconcihation  with 


JULY    4,    1885.  15 

America.  Addressing  the  House  of  Commons  he 
said:  "The  use  of  force  alone  is  but  temporary; 
it  may  subdue  for  a  moment,  but  it  does  not 
remove  the  necessity  of  subduing  again,  and  a 
nation  is  not  governed  which  is  perpetually  to  be 
conquered."  Mr.  Burke  subsequently  moved  the 
resolution,  that  the  colonies  ought  to  have  repre- 
sentation in  the  High  Court  of  Parliament,  and, 
finding  all  his  efforts  voted  down,  concludes:  "I 
have  this  comfort,  that  in  every  stage  of  the 
American  affairs  I  have  steadily  opposed  the 
measures  that  have  produced  the  confusion,  and 
may  bring  on  the  destruction,  of  this  empire.  I 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  risk  a  proposal  of  my 
own.  If  I  cannot  give  peace  to  my  country,  I 
give  it  to  my  conscience." 

The  wisest  statesman  and  philosopher  of  his 
time,  whose  fame  has  outlived  that  of  all  his 
contemporaries,  foresaw  that  war  was  inevitable  if 
the  king  and  ministry  persisted.  George  IH.  was 
honestly  consistent  in  two  things:  he  cordially 
hated  the  Il^orth  American  colonists  and  the  Cath- 
olics. Appended  to  Lord  Brougham's  "Biographi- 
cal Sketches  of  Lord  ISTorth"  are  some  autograph 
notes  of  the  king,  which  give  us  an  insight  to 
his     character.        "  The     times     certainly    require," 


16  ORATION. 

writes  the  king,  "the  concurrence  of  all  who 
wish  to  prevent  anarchy.  I  have  no  wish  but 
the  prosperity  of  my  own  dominion;  therefore  I 
must  look  upon  all  who  would  not  heartily  assist 
me  as  bad  men,  as  well  as  bad  subjects."  lie 
reasons :  "  I  wish  nothing  but  good,  therefore 
every  man  who  does  not  agree  with  me  is  a 
traitor  and  a  scoundrel."  And  in  this  category 
he  placed  all  his  ^orth  American  colonists,  as 
well  as  the  great  author  of  "  Reflections  on  the 
Revolution  in  France."  We  can  see  at  this  dis- 
tance of  time,  and  in  the  present  light,  that 
reconciliation  was  impossible.  George  III.  con- 
sidered himself  anointed  by  a  divine  commission, 
therefore  his  rebellious  subjects  were  to  be  flogged 
into  submission;  and  that  he  had  the  support  of 
his  country  is  shown  by  the  address  in  favor 
of  coercing  the  colonies,  which  was  carried  in 
Parliament  by  a  vote  of  304  to  105  in  the 
Commons  and  by  104  to  29  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  We  had  as  few  friends  in  1775  in 
Parliament  as  we  had  in  the  dark  days  of  1862, 
when  a  long  list  of  fifty-one  dukes,  noble  lords, 
marquises,  and  members  of  Parliament  subscribed 
millions  of  dollars  for  the  bonds  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  —  that  the  American  idea  of  govern- 


JULY4,1885.  17 

ment  founded  upon  manhood  suffrage  might  be 
destroyed.  The  vote  of  Parhament  meant  war, 
and,  as  Patrick  Henry  predicted,  "  The  next 
breeze  from  the  ^N^orth  brought  to  Virginia  the 
clash  of  resounding  arms."  The  Continental 
Congress  was  called  together  at  Philadelphia. 
They  assembled  not  m  pomp  and  power,  as  did 
the  barons  at  Punnymede;  yet  were  no  less 
determined.  Two  engagements  had  been  fought 
during  the  sitting;  the  armies  were  in  the  field, 
and  many  jet  hoped  for  reconciliation.  The 
debates  m  Congress  were  upon  matters  of  serious 
import  to  the  colonies.  No  wiser,  more  patri- 
otic, or  braver  men  were  ever  gathered  together 
than  the  men  of  the  Continental  Congress.  To 
test  the  sense  of  that  Congress,  on  the  7th  day 
of  June,  1776,  Pichard  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia, 
arose  in  his  place,  and  offered  this  resolution: 
"  Resolved,  that  these  United  Colonies  are,  and 
of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent 
States;  that  they  are  absolved  from  all  alle- 
giance to  the  British  Crown,  and  that  all  politi- 
^cal  connection  between  them  and  the  State  of 
Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved, 
and  that  a  plan  of  confederation  be  prepared  and 
transmitted    to    the    respective     colonies    for    their 


18  ORATION. 

consideration  and  approbation."  In  that  resolution 
was  epitomized  the  Declaration  of  Independence; 
it  was  adopted  on  the  11th  of  June,  and  two 
committees  appointed,  —  one  on  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  other  to  prepare  Articles  of 
Union. 

At  the  head  of  the  Committee  on  Declaration 
was  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia,  then  in  his 
thirty-third  year,  and  the  author  of  the  great 
declaration  of  the  rights  of  man.  On  the  28th  day 
of  June  was  achieved  the  great  naval  victory  over 
Sir  Peter  Parker,  at  Charleston,  and  on  the  same 
day  the  Committee  on  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence presented  its  report.  As  the  delegates  from 
Pennsylvania  and  ]^ew  York  had  not  received 
their  powers  or  instructions  to  vote  for  it,  action 
was  delayed  until  the  4th  day  of  July.  The  vote 
was  by  colonies,  each  colony  casting  a  single 
vote.  It  was  a  long  and  anxious  day,  and  late 
in  the  evening  John  Hancock,  President  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  announced  that  the  decla- 
ration had  been  carried,  and  the  Fourth  of  July 
became  forever  memorable  and  glorious  in  our 
annals.  The  'New  York  delegation  were  not 
authorized  to  vote  for  independence  until  the 
9th    of    July,    and    did     not     sign    until    August 


JULY    4,    1885.  19 

2d.  The  Pennsylvania  vote  was  by  a  minority 
of  the  v^hole  delegation.  The  doctrine  "that 
all  men  are  created  equal,  and  have  certain  in- 
alienable rights,"  had  about  it  a  touch  of  sub- 
limity. The  doctrine  "that  government  rests  upon 
the  consent  of  the  governed"  startled  all  Europe. 
"Audacious,  foolhardy  men,"  exclaim  the  states- 
men and  philosophers  of  Europe,  "  to  imagine  that 
a  government  can  be  successful  where  all  the 
people  have  a  voice!  Such  a  doctrine  we  might 
expect  from  the  lips  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  youth- 
ful and  inexperienced,  and  tinctured  with  all  the 
heresies  of  France,  where  he  so  recently  so- 
journed; and  that  radical  Sam  Adams,  we  are 
not  surprised  at  finding  him  among  the  signers 
of  the  declaration.  But  what  folly  and  madness 
have  seized  the  conservative  men  of  the  colonies, 
that  they  dare  trust  their  lives  and  property 
under  such  a  form  of  government."  At  a  later 
period  Macaulay  prophesied  "that  soon  the  poor 
in  the  United  States,  worse  than  another  inroad 
of  Goths  and  Vandals,  would  begin  a  general 
plunder  of  the  rich."  Scholars  and  pessimists 
have  flouted  universal  suffrage,  and  condemned 
our  great  charter  of  the  Fourth  of  July.  Car- 
lyle   blasphemously   said,    "  Democracy  will   prevail 


20  ORATION. 

when  men  believe  the  vote  of  Judas  as  good  as 
that  of  his  Master."  Yet,  notwithstanding  all 
these  sneers  and  prophecies,  this  government  has 
lived  one  century,  and  has  entered  into  the  second 
with  more  strength  and  vigor  than  any  nation 
on  the  globe.  Its  public  credit  stands  unchal- 
lenged; it  has  increased  in  wealth  and  population 
to    a   marvellous   degree. 

During  the  first  century  of  its  existence  it  has 
witnessed  the  revolution  of  1789  in  France,  the 
Consulate,  the  first  empire,  the  Bourbon  restora- 
tion, the  destruction  of  the  Bastile,  and  the  revo- 
lution of  1830,  Louis  Philippe,  and  again  the 
rising  of  "  '48,"  the  coup  cCetat,  the  second 
empire  and  its  fall,  the  Commune,  and  the  present 
so-called  Republic  in  France,  the  Carbonari  in 
Italy,  and  the  revolutions  in  Germany.  And  if 
England  has  escaped  the  war  and  misery  of  her 
continental  neighbors  it  is  for  the  reason  that 
her  statesmen,  profiting  by  American  experience, 
and  noting  the  progress  of  events  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  have  made  immense  concession 
to  the  popular  will.  Catholic  emancipation,  the 
repeal  of  the  corn-laws,  the  reform  act,  the  dis- 
establishment of  the  Irish  Church,  the  doubling 
of  the   franchise,    and    the    more    recent    bill,   by 


JULY    4,    1885.  21 

which  more  than  2,000,000  new  votei's  have  been 
added  to  the  hsts,  —  measures,  all  of  them  which 
were,  when  originally  proposed,  denounced  as 
revolutionary,  —  have  been  adopted,  and  are  now 
part  of  the  constitution  of  the  British  empire; 
all  of  the  so-called  strong  governments  in  each 
decade  during  the  last  half  century  having  been 
advancing  towards  the  doctrine  of  the  American 
Declaration  of  Independence  that  "All  govern- 
ment rests  upon  the  consent  of  the  governed." 
"When  the  fathers  of  this  republic  founded  the 
government  upon  the  right  of  the  people  as 
opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  they  were  not  mere  theorists  and  rash 
experimenters;  there  must  have  been  men  in  the 
Continental  Congress  who  had  thought  seriously 
and  soundly  upon  this  question, —  men  not  unfa- 
miliar with  the  teachings  of  the  early  philosophers 
and  doctors ;  for  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  great 
doctor,  says  "that  the  ruler  has  not  power  of 
making  law,  except  in  as  much  as  he  bears  the 
person  of  the  multitude."  And  Sir  Thomas  More, 
in  spite  of  Henry  VIII.,  maintained  that  the 
king  held  his  crown  by  parliamentary  title ;  and 
Suarez  taught  "  that  whenever  civil  power  is 
found  in  one  man,  or  legitimate  j)rince,  by  ordinary 


22  ORATION. 

right,  it  came  from  the  people  and  community, 
either  proximately  or  remotely;  it  cannot  be  other- 
wise possessed  so  as  to  be  just."  Bellarmine 
concludes:  "Divine  right  gave  the  power  to  no 
particular  man;  it  therefore  gave  the  power  to 
the  multitude."  The  men  of  the  Continental 
Congress  were  not  Socialists  or  Communists;  they 
i-ecognized  fully  the  rights  of  individual  property, 
and  had  faith  that  thp  people  would  resjject  and 
protect  these  rights.  Having  once  fully  adopted 
the  principles  of  the  Declaration,  the  States  in 
their  Constitutions  recognized  the  right  of  the 
people  to  participate.  Maryland,  which  was  the 
first  of  the  colonies  to  grant  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  was  the  first  State  to  proclaim  universal 
suflrage,  and  to  introduce  the  most  democratic 
forms  into  her  whole  government.  De  Tocque- 
ville  says :  "  When  a  nation  begins  to  modify  the 
elective  qualification  it  may  easily  be  foi-eseen 
that,  sooner  or  later,  all  qualification  will  be 
abolished."  It  is  useless,  then,  to  discuss  prob- 
lems concerning,  and  difficulties  affecting,  our 
form  of  government  upon  any  other  basis  than 
that  the  people  govern.  It  is  fashionable  and 
customary  in  our  day,  at  social-science  meetings, 
at   the   clubs    and   at    conventions,    to    decry    uni- 


JULY4,1885.  23 

versal  suffrage.  But  it  is  an  established  fact, 
and  the  people  are  the  masters.  Mr.  Disraeli 
truthfully  said,  in  "  Yivian  Grey,"  "  The  people, 
sir,  are  not  always  right;  the  people,  Mr.  Grey, 
are  not  often  wrong."  The  people  carried  us 
grandly  through  the  revolution,  and  on  all  great 
questions  affecting  our  institutions  they  have 
been   instinctively    right. 

On  the  very  question  that  finally  threatened  the 
destruction  of  the  Union,  the  people  in  the  colo- 
nies early  anticipated  danger.  As  in  1772,  upon 
the  petitions  from  all  parts  of  the  colony,  the  Legis- 
lature of  Virginia  memorialized  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  upon  the  dangers  of  slavery,  and  expressed 
the  desire  that  the  slave-trade  might  be  abolished. 
The  king  answered,  "  That  upon  pain  of  his  highest 
displeasure  the  importation  of  slaves  should  not 
be  obstructed."  Yet,  in  the  very  same  year, 
the  highest  court  of  judicature  in  England  de- 
cided the  celebrated  Somersett  case,  that  no  man 
could  make  a  slave  of  another.  While  the  British 
orators  and  statesmen  indulged  in  copious  rhetoric 
about  the  freedom  of  a  single  slave,  and  boasted 
that  the  moment  his  foot  touched  the  shores  of 
England  he  stood  forth  redeemed  and  disen- 
thralled, the  government  continued  to  sanction  the 


24  ORATION. 

traffic  that  sent  thousands  into  bondage  and  en- 
tailed untold  misery  upon  posterity.  As  indicating 
the  opinion  of  the  people  of  the  colonies  at  the  time 
of  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  constitution  it  may 
be  mentioned  that  there  were  abolition  societies  in 
Maryland,  Virginia,  'New  York,  and  Pennsylvania. 
James  Madison,  in  the  constitutional  convention, 
strongly  opposed  the  proposition,  coming  from  a 
northern  delegate,  for  the  extension  of  the  time  for 
the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  Luther  Martin  and 
William  Pinkney,  of  Maryland,  in  the  House  of 
Delegates,  and  Mr.  Iredell,  of  North  Carolina,  were 
all  in  favor  of  the  early  removal  of  what  they  con- 
sidered a  great  danger  threatening  the  republic. 
The  latter  said,  in  the  State  convention  of  ]!^orth 
Carolina,  "When  the  entire  abolition  of  slavery 
takes  place  it  will  be  an  event  which  must  be 
pleasing  to  every  generous  mind  and  to  every 
friend   of   human   nature." 

The  framers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
keenly  ahve  to  the  popular  sentiment,  intended 
the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  in  that  omitted 
clause,  which  Mr.  Jefferson  said  "was  struck 
out  in  complaisance  to  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  not  without  tenderness,  too,  to  some  of  our 
northern     brethren,     who,     though    they    had    few 


JULY4,1885.  25 

slaves  themselves,  were  very  considerable  carriers 
of  them  to  others,"  The  framers  of  our  consti- 
tutional government,  despairing  of  uniting  the 
colonies  under  the  Federal  Union,  and  realizing, 
in  the  language  of  Burke,  that  "All  government, 
indeed  every  human  benefit  and  enjoyment,  every 
virtue  and  every  prudent  act,  is  founded  on  com- 
promise and  barter,"  were  forced  to  accept  some 
compromises,  and  recognized  the  existence  of 
slavery,  though  every  Southern  man  in  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  voted  for  the  ordinance  of 
1787,  which  made  all  the  territory  north  and  west 
of  the   Ohio  river   free   territory   forever. 

Montesquieu  wrote:  "If  a  republic  is  small  it  is 
destroyed  by  a  foreign  power;  if  it  is  large  it  is 
destroyed  by  internal  disorder."  But  he  wrote  in 
1747,  before  the  railway  and  the  telegraph  had 
annihilated  time  and  space.  Our  history  and 
growth  have  thus  far  disproved  the  truth  of  this 
assertion,  yet  we  had  that  within  our  body  politic 
which   almost   destroyed   the   republic. 

The  debates  in  Congress  of  1820,  and  the  re- 
peal of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  gave  us  more 
than  a  generation  of  fierce  and  bitter  agitation  on 
the  slavery  question.  On  the  one  side  were  urged 
the    arguments  for   the   Constitution,   the   law,   and 


26  ORATION. 

logic  ;  on  the  other  side  were  humanity  and  the 
people.  The  latter  prevailed,  as  they  have  in 
every   great   struggle. 

"  Ever  the  truth  comes  uppermost 
And  ever  is  justice  done." 

To  accomplish  that  justice  this  government  was 
shaken  to  its  foundations;  and  yet,  when  the  war 
came  upon  us,  where  did  we  find  the  courageous 
men,  the  brave  and  willing  hearts,  ready  to  die 
in  defence  of  country  ?  In  the  ranks  of  the 
common  people.  As  Wendell  Phillips  scathingly 
remarked,  through  all  the  crisis  "  there  was 
nothing  so  cowardly  in  the  Northern  States  as  a 
million  dollars,  except  two  millions."  Do  not  mis- 
understand me  as  implying  that  the  men  of  wealth 
did  not  respond  nobly  and  generously  during  the 
war  to  the  call  of  the  government ;  yet  truth 
compels  us  to  admit  that  in  the  beginning  they 
had  less  faith  in  the  government  than  was  dis- 
played by  the  masses  of  the  people.  This  govern- 
ment, that,  according  to  the  predictions  of  the 
philosophers  and  statesmen  of  Europe,  was  to 
crumble  and  disappear  at  the  first  sign  of  in- 
ternal disorder,  through  four  years  of  terrible  civil 
war    proved    itself    surprisingly    strong.      Of    the 


JULY4,1885.  27 

23,000,000  of  population  in  the  IS'orthern  States 
one  in  eight,  or  3,000,000,  took  up  arms  in  defence 
of  the  government  and  the  Union.  In  the  last 
year  of  the  war  they  cheerfully  acquiesced  in  the 
expenditure  of  $1,000,000,000,  and  as  cheerfully 
submitted  to  the  increased  burden  of  taxation  con- 
sequent upon  this  debt.  And  when  at  length,  after 
the  long,  dark  night  came  the  dawn,  and  the  com- 
mander of  the  Union  armies  had  received  the 
surrender  of  the  last  army  in  the  field  against  the 
government,  in  the  hour  of  national  rejoicing  the 
assassin's  arm  struck  down  the  people's  ruler,  — 
then  came  the  supreme  test  of  this  government  of 
the  people.  Under  any  of  the  so-called  strong 
governments  of  Europe,  had  such  a  catastrophe 
happened,  the  victorious  general  of  the  army  would 
have  been  proclaimed  dictator,  and  have  founded 
a  line  of  kings;  but  in  this  republic  the  doctrine 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  not  for- 
gotten: "That  all  government  rests  upon  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed;"  and  the  duly  elected  Yice- 
President  of  the  United  States  took  the  oath  of 
office  and  became  President,  as  prescribed  by  the 
constitution  and   laws. 

Another   inspiring  example,  that  strengthens  our 
faith    in    the    people,    was    given    in    1876,   when 


28  ORATION. 

both  parties  claimed  to  have  elected  the  President: 
one,  because  they  had  possession  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  desired  to  retain  it;  the  other,  for 
the  reason  that  they  had  a  majority  of  the 
votes,  and  had  elected  their  candidate.  Was  it 
the  presence  of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army,  or  the  concentration  of  troops  at  Washing- 
ton, that  brought  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  ques- 
tion? A*^o!  It  was  the  assemblage  of  the  people, 
regardless  of  party  ties,  in  mass  meetings,  in  all 
the  large  cities  and  towns  of  the  country,  that 
by  the  power  of  public  opinion  compelled  Congress 
to  vote  for  the  bill  creating  the  electoral  com- 
mission. The  people,  by  their  voice  and  action, 
demonstrated  that  love  of  country  was  more 
potent  than  love  of  party.  Let  us  not  speak 
doubtingly  nor  disparagingly  of  the  people's 
judgment  when  we  reflect  upon  the  action  of 
the  fifteen  eminent  judicial  minds  that  formed  the 
commission.  Thus  far,  through  the  blessings  of 
Divine  Providence  and  trust  in  the  people,  we 
have  maintained  our  government  and  kept  the 
Union  whole.  We  are  not  unmindful  of  the 
dangers  that  beset  our  course.  We  realize  "  that 
early  and  provident  fear  is  the  mother  of  safety." 
I  do  not   believe  that  danger  lies  in  the  direction 


JULY    4,     1885.  29 

which    so   many   predict.      We    must   take    counsel 
of  our   experience,    and  not   our   prejudice. 

Mr.  Curtis,  the  editor  of  "Harper's  Weekly," 
in  speaking  of  the  dangers  threatening  the  re- 
public, said,  in  his  oration  at  Concord,  in  1875, 
"Massachusetts  has  a  large  population,  with  no 
hereditary  traditions  connecting  them  with  the 
soil."  If  he  meant  to  imply  that  a  very  large 
portion  of  the  population  of  Massachusetts  do  not 
trace  their  descent  from  Puritan  ancestry,  that  is 
true.  But  if  he  apprehends  danger  from  that 
source,  can  he  have  read  the  history  of  his 
country  aright  ?  Can  he  believe  that  we,  who 
have  walked  the  streets  of  Boston  for  nearly 
forty  years,  do  not  love  our  native  city?  —  we, 
who  remember  that  in  these  same  streets  walked 
Sir  Harry  Yane,  the  broadest  and  most  Catho- 
lic man  of  his  time;  we,  who  were  familiar  with 
the  history  of  Faneuil  Hall  before  we  knew  our 
alphabet,  and  knew  the  story  of  the  Old  South 
and  the  tea  in  Boston  harbor  ere  we  had  con- 
quered the  multiplication  table;  whose  infant  feet 
had  time  and  again  passed  the  old  North  Church, 
and  looked  up  searchingly  at  the  old  tower  for 
Paul  Revere's  lanterns,  and  ascended  Copp's  Hill 
to   look   upon    Charlestown  ;    and,  before  we   were 


■)0  ORATION. 

out  of  jackets,  stood  on  Bunker  Hill  under  the 
shadow  of  the  tall  gray  shaft,  and,  with  uncov- 
ered head  and  reverent  mien,  looked  upon  the 
spot  where  Warren  fell;  we,  who  have  walked 
these  streets  with  prouder  tread,  because  of 
Sam  Adams,  and  James  Otis,  the  elder  Quincy, 
and  sturdy  John  Adams;  we,  who  have  had 
glimpses  of  the  stalwart  form  of  Webster,  the 
defender  and  expounder  of  the  Constitution,  who 
have  listened  to  the  polished  tones  of  Everett, 
the  matchless  eloquence  of  Choate,  and  heard 
Sumner  thunder  forth  his  fierce  denunciations  of 
the  slave  power ;  and  again  during  the  native 
American  excitement  of  the  "  Fifties,"  in  the  face 
of  popular  clamor  defending  the  rights  of  all 
citizens  under  the  law;  we,  who  heard  in  front 
of  the  Old  South  Church,  in  the  early  days  of 
the  rebellion,  the  great  tribune  of  the  people, 
Wendell  Phillips,  "the  noblest  Roman  of  them 
all,"  appealing  to  all  citizens  to  stand  by  the 
government  in  the  hour  of  peril.  Have  we  been 
insensible  to  all  these  events,  or  unmindful  of 
what  these  men  taught?  'No,  thank  God  !  We 
know  no  other  country.  Our  love  for  Boston, 
and  Massachusetts,  and  the  Union  is  as  strong 
and   lasting   as  any  who  claim  descent   from  Puri- 


JULY4,188  5.  31 

tan  ancestry.  Had  the  orator  so  soon  forgotten 
the  story  of  Massachusetts  in  the  war  of  the  re- 
bellion? The  gallant  soldier  now  on  the  Supreme 
Bench,  whose  Puritan  lineage  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned, who  marched  and  fought  on  a  score  of 
battle-fields  with  these  men,  might  have  quieted 
his  fears.  He  would,  aside  from  his  personal 
experience,  have  pointed  to  the  monuments  and 
tablets  in  memorial  halls  of  the  several  towns 
and  cities  in  the  Commonwealth,  on  which  are 
inscribed  the  names  of  the  heroic  dead  Avho  fell 
in  the  great  war  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  and  have  shown  him  that  these  men  had 
bequeathed  a  rich  legacy  of  patriotism  to  pos- 
terity, and  had  left  traditions  to  their  children, 
and  children's  children,  with  which  history  will 
indissolubly   bind   them   to   the    soil   forever. 

A  short  time  since  I  was  in  yonder  historic 
town  of  Lexington,  inhabited  principally  by  agri- 
culturists. I  read  upon  a  monument  the  names 
of  those  soldiers  of  Lexington  who  gave  their 
lives  to  their  country  in  the  war  of  the  Kebel- 
lion.  They  were  twenty  in  number,  and  among 
them  one  may  read  the  names  of  John  O'JN^eil, 
Dennis  McMahon  and  Timothy  Leary,  —  names 
certainly   that   did    not    occur   in    the   Mayflower's 


32  ORATION. 

list  of  passengers,  —  and  so  in  more  than  two 
hundred  towns  in  the  State  may  be  found  such 
records.  The  rolls  at  the  Adjutant- General's  office 
and  the  navy  list  afford  abundant  evidence  that 
they  have  so  identified  themselves  with  the  his- 
tory of  Massachusetts  and  the  Union  that  they 
have  not  only  traditions,  but  a  record  which  will 
endure   to   the   end    of  time. 

There  are  some  of  us  who  still  remember  the 
first  preparations  for  the  great  civil  war.  Men 
were  not  inquiring  about  family  traditions  then. 
Are  you  for  the  Union?  Are  you  willing,  if 
necessary,  to  give  your  life  to  the  cause?  We 
remember  one  stalwart  regiment  that  went  to  the 
field  with  no  hereditary  traditions,  and  one  can 
read  to-day  on  the  monument  at  Gettysburg, 
erected  to   their   memory,   these   words :  — 

The  Ninth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  volunteers  served  during 
three  years'  campaigns  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania, 
and  was  in  forty-two  engagements,  including  the  following, 
viz.  :  Peninsular  campaign,  Hanover  Court-House,  Seven  days' 
battles,  Antietam,  Fredericksburg,  Chaucellorsville,  Gettysburg, 
Mine   Run,    Wilderness   campaign. 

What  a  host  of  patriotic  memories  are  recalled 
by   these   names,    even   to   us,    the   cool   lookers-on 


JULY4,1885.  33 

of  a  later  generation!  To  them  who  participated 
in  all  their  dire  disaster,  as  well  as  flush  of  vic- 
tory, think  you  they  hold  no  traditions  that  bind 
them  to  this  country  of  their  adoption?  What 
more  eloquent  eulogium  can  be  paid  to  this  regi- 
ment than  the  concluding  line  of  the  inscription 
on  the  monument:  — 

''  Whole  number  of  casualties,  863  "  ! 

I  remember  at  Chancellorsville  in  the  Twenty- 
eighth  Massachusetts  Regiment  every  commissioned 
ofiicer  was  killed  or  disabled;  and  yet  it  returned 
again  and  again  to  the  onset,  under  command  of 
its  sergeant-major.  I  recall  that  13th  day  of  De- 
cember, 1862,  in  front  of  Fredericksburg,  French's 
Division  was  almost  annihilated.  Of  Meagher's 
Brigade  of  1,200  stalwart  men  only  200  were 
mustered  at  roll-call  at  the  close  of  the  battle.  One 
thousand  of  their  companions  in  arms  were  left 
dead  or  wounded  on  the  tield.  We  call  to  mind 
one  incident  in  that  day's  fight  particularly  honor- 
able and  glorious  to  Massachusetts.  The  Twenty- 
first  Kegiment  of  volunteers  had  marched  out  in  line 
of  battle.  One  after  another  of  its  gallant  stand- 
ard-bearers had  been  shot  down  until  stepped 
forth    Sergeant   Thomas   Plunkett.      In    the    fierce 


34  ORATION. 

storm  of  shot  and  shell  both  arms  are  shattered, 
but,  claspmg  the  flag  in  the  reeking  stumps, 
blinded  by  agony,  his  warm  blood  saturated  the 
flag  he  saved  with  honor.  He  walked  our  streets 
until  a  few^  months  ago,  when  he  joined  so  many 
of  his  comrades  who  had  gone  before.  The  city 
of  Worcester  mourned  him  as  one  of  her  illustri- 
ous dead,  and  honored  him  as  one  of  the  bravest 
of  the  brave  ;  and  yet  we  are  told  men  such  as 
he  cannot  hope  to  leave  traditions  which  may  bind 
them  or  theirs  to  the  soil.  Time  will  tell  some 
few  years  hence,  w^hen  we,  answering  a  younger 
generation,  asking  the  history  of  his  monument, 
tell  them  we  knew  him  in  life,  had  spoken  with 
him;  that  we  had  seen  him  bearing  so  bravely 
and  j)atiently  those  scars  and  mutilations  that  an 
emperor  might  have  envied ;  and  if  the  youth  should 
have  exclaimed,  "  Oh  that  I  could  have  seen  the 
heroic  original!  "  and,  with  interested  and  upturned 
gaze,  should  ask  who  was  the  original  of  that 
statue,  we  might  answer,  "A  poor  immigrant 
boy;  one  who  had  no  hereditary  traditions  that 
bound  him  to  the  soil."  Yet,  so  long  as  will 
spring  in  human  hearts  a  responsive  throb  at  the 
rehearsal  of  brave  deeds,  his  fame  will  be  secure 
in  Massachusetts.  '    - 


JULY4,1885.  35 

Men   who   have   made    great   sacrifices   to   main- 
tain   a    government   will    not   willingly   permit    its 
destruction.      The    danger  to  our  government  does 
not     lie     in    that    direction.       We     are    in     more 
danger     from     the     indiiFerence,     and,     to      speak 
plainly,    paradoxical    as    it   may    appear,    from   the 
ignorance   of   the    so-called   wealthy   and   cultured 
classes   than  from    the   common    people.      My   ex- 
perience    has     taught    me    that,    as    a    rule,    the 
masses  vote  more  understandingly  than  those  who, 
by   the   accident   of  birth  or  fortune,  assume  to  be 
their   betters.      Watch*   men    listen    to   the  discus- 
sions   at    clubs    when   men   of    wealth   or    culture 
and   respectability  meet,  —  men   who    are    supposed 
to   represent    what   is    best   in   our   American   life. 
What   are   the   topics    of  conversation?     You  may 
learn    who   has    the    oldest   Madeira   in   his  cellar; 
the    vintage    of    claret    on    the    dinner-table;    the 
best    method   of    cooking    a    duck;    the   names    of 
some  of  the   painters    and   sculptors;    maybe   some 
superficial   observations  on   art;  the   newest  gossip 
about    the     opera-singers;     who     wrote    the    latest 
novel,    or    was    the    winner    of   the    Derby.      The 
saving   remnant    may    speculate   on    the   doctrines 
of   evolution,    and    discuss    the   unknowable    cause. 
But   let   an    earnest    man,    whose    necessities    com- 


36  O  K  A  T  I  0  N  . 

pel  him  to  spend  his  days  in  manual  labor,  yet 
desires  to  keep  abreast  of  the  times,  inquire  from 
one  of  these  gentlemen,  What  is  this  bill  that  has 
passed  the  Legislature  in  relation  to  the  limitation 
of  taxation  in  cities?  What  are  the  main  pro- 
visions of  the  new  city  charter;  how  does  it  affect 
citizens  generally?  I  heard  something  in  relation 
to  a  bill  regulating  naturalization;  can  you  give 
me  any  information  as  to  the  changes  made  in 
the  present  laws?  Who  has  charge  of  spending 
the  ten  millions  annually  assessed  upon  the  citizens 
of  Boston?  What  steps  must  I  take  to  exercise 
the   franchise? 

Gentlemen  of  the  clubs,  how  many  of  you 
could   give  intelligent  answers   to    these   questions? 

Do  you  suppose  that  any  form  of  government 
can  exist  if  the  brains  and  capital  neglect  their 
most  important  duties?  If  there  has  been  a  low 
tone  in  the  public  service;  if  there  have  been 
incompetency  and  corruption  in  public  life,  have 
you  not,  by  your  indifference  and  silence,  stood 
by  and  consented?  Go  into  the  workshops  of 
the  mechanics;  attend  the  meetings  of  the  labor 
unions,  the  temperance,  charitable,  and  benefit 
associations;  listen,  and  you  will  hear  the  keen- 
est  discussions   of  men    and  measures.     The  effect 


JULY4,1885.  37 

of  the  tariff  upon  labor  and  necessaries  of  life; 
the  leader's  ability;  that  leader's  honesty;  the 
effect  of  this  legislative  enactment  upon  local 
rights;  the  policy  of  the  new  ministry  in  Eng- 
land; its  possible  effect  upon  our  federal  relations, 
—  all  questions  of  public  interest.  Every  man 
feels  that  he  is  a  citizen,  and  has  an  interest  in 
the  government.  If,  now  and  then,  demagogues 
mislead  them,  it  is  but  for  the  moment,  and 
you  will  find  that  the  demagogues  took  advan- 
tage of  some  real  grievance  which  your  igno- 
rance or  indifference  failed  to  notice  and  remedy. 
To  quote  Jeremy  Taylor:  "I  cannot  but  think 
as  Aristotle  (Lib.  6)  did  of  Thales  and  Anax- 
agoras,  that  they  may  be  learned  but  not  wise, 
or  wise  but  not  prudent,  when  they  are  ignorant 
of  such  things  as  are  profitable  to  them.  For, 
suppose  men  know  the  wonders  of  nature,  and 
the  subtleties  of  metaphysics,  and  operations 
mathematical,  yet  they  cannot  be  prudent  who 
spend  themselves  wholly  on  unprofitable  and 
ineffective  contemplation."  — "  Suppose  the  men  of 
character  and  influence  perform  their  duty,"  you 
may  reply,  "  are  there  not  other  changes  that 
threaten  this  republic?"  Yes!  "Eternal  vigilance 
is  the  price  of  liberty."     The  great   French  writer, 


38  ORATION. 

whom  I  have  before  quoted,  wrote  in  1830 :  "  I 
am  of  the  opinion  that  the  manufacturing  aris- 
tocracy which  is  growing-  up  under  our  eyes  is 
one  of  the  harshest  that  ever  existed  in  the 
world;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  confined  and  least  dangerous.  N^evertheless 
the  friends  of  democracy  should  keep  their  eyes 
anxiously  fixed  in  this  direction,  for,  if  ever  a 
permanent  inequality  of  conditions  and  aristocracy 
again  penetrate  into  the  world,  it  may  be  pre- 
dicted that  this  is  the  gate  by  which  they  will 
enter." 

We  know  in  Massachusetts  and  ISTew  England 
that  much  of  our  discontent  has  come  with  our 
increase  in  manufactures.  While  the  people  are 
benefited  by  large  manufactories,  and  division 
of  labor,  making  many  articles  much  cheaper, 
the  individual  laborer  has  been  correspondingly 
degraded.  When  manufacturing  enterprises  were 
under  the  control  of  individuals  there  existed  a 
personal  interest  and  an  individual  sympathy 
between  the  employer  and  the  employe.  But 
since  the  increase  in  corporations  the  man  feels 
that  he  is  looked  upon  as  a  piece  of  machinery, 
of  no  use  except  to  earn  dividends  for  those 
who   live  in   distant   towns  or  cities,  with  no  sym- 


JULY4,18  8  5.  39 

pathy  for  liim,  or  interest  in  the  local  affairs  of 
his  town,  except  to  have  their  manufacturing 
property  bear  as  small  a  portion  of  the  town 
tax  as  possible.  Watch  carefully,  then,  the  atti- 
tude of  representatives  in  the  Legislature,  and 
be  not  unmindful  that  corporations  are  by  their 
very  organizations  grasping  and  controlling.  A 
still  greater  danger  than  the  manufacturing  cor- 
porations is  the  great  power  concentrated  in  the 
hands  of  a  few  men,  under  the  name  of  railroad 
corporations. 

The  founders  of  this  republic  wisely  abolished 
the  law  of  primogeniture.  Could  they  have 
foreseen  the  coming  and  the  growth  of  these 
great  corporations,  and  their  power  to  control 
the  land  by  fixing  the  prices  of  the  products  of 
the  soil,  they  would  have  guarded  us  in  that 
direction.  We  are  not  too  late,  however,  to  pro- 
vide, by  appropriate  legislation  in  our  several 
States,  that  while  every  man  shall  be  entitled  to 
the  products  of  his  labor  and  his  accumulated 
earnings  during  his  life,  the  public  safety,  how- 
ever, and  the  greater  good  of  the  greatest  num- 
ber demand  that  he  shall  not  select  one  sinofle 
individual  in  his  family  and  bequeath  to  him  his 
whole    fortune,  if    in    personal    property.      If  the 


40  ORATION. 

laws  limiting"  the  descent  and  acquisition  of  real 
property  have  been  wise  and  beneficial,  —  and  who 
doubts  that  they  have  been,  —  then  the  time  has 
come  when  there  is  much  greater  need  for  con- 
trolling the  insane  ambition  of  men  to  make  their 
heirs  great  and  powerful,  by  placing  in  the  hands 
of  a  single  person  an  enormous  fortune,  which 
engenders  discontent,  and  inevitably  tends  to  cor- 
ruption, and  threatens  the  safety  of  our  insti- 
tutions. We  cannot  too  jealously  guard  these 
institutions  and  the  principles  of  our  government. 
The  chief  provisions  of  our  Constitution  are, 
absolute  freedom  of  religion;  the  right  of  the 
citizen  to  keep  and  bear  arms;  compensation  for 
private  property  taken  for  public  uses;  trial  by 
jury  according  to  common  law,  and  that  all 
powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States,  nor 
prohibited  by  the  Constitution  to  the  States,  are 
reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the 
people.  One  of  the  rights  reserved  to  the  people 
was  the  right  to  manage  their  local  affairs,  and 
to  be  secure  in  their  chartered  rights.  This 
principle  was  insisted  upon  as  early  as  the  time 
of  King  John,  and  was  the  eighth  article  of  the 
famous  Magna  Charta;  it  was  always  held  sacred 
in   Massachusetts    until    the    Legislature   of    1885 


JULY*,     1885.  41 

Struck  a  blow  at  the  principle  which  underlies 
our  whole  system  of  government.  When  Boston 
cannot  govern  herself  w^e  may  well  despair  of 
the  republic.  We  all  know  that  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  the  people  of  Boston  are  intelli- 
gent, industrious,  law-abiding  citizens,  capable  of 
managing  their  own  local  affairs;  and  when  they 
want  legislation  they  have  still  the  right  to 
assemble  in  mass  meeting,  and  if  they  have  a 
grievance  demanding  legislative  redress  they  will 
make   that   grievance   known. 

Law  has  not  an  atom  of  strength  only  so  far 
as  public  opinion  endorses  it.  Do  the  men  who 
propose  to  change  the  heads  of  our  civil  army 
suppose  that  that  small  force  of  eight  hundred 
men  is  the  power  which  keeps  this  city  safe? 
Absurd  dreamers !  Your  life,  goods,  and  good 
name  rest  on  the  law-abiding  mood  and  self- 
respect  of  the  people  who  walk  the  streets  of 
Boston,  and  not  upon  the  paltry  force  of  eight 
hundred  men.  We  have  had  narrow-minded 
legislation  in  Massachusetts  in  the  past,  but  the 
sober  second  thought  of  the  people  caused  its 
repeal;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  ere  many  years 
the  men  engaged  in  the  attempt  to  strike  down 
local      self-government     in      Boston     will     be     as 


42  ORATION. 

thoroughly  ashamed  of  then'  action  as  men  are 
to  acknowledge  to-day  that  they  were  members 
of  the  hnow-notJiing  Legislature  of  1854  and 
1855. 

The  great  danger  to  our  republic,  and  perhaps 
the  greatest  danger  which  many  see,  is  the  con- 
centration of  population  in  the  great  cities  of  the 
Union. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution  not 
more  than  three  per  cent,  of  our  population  lived 
in  the  cities.  To-day  twenty  per  cent,  of  our 
people  are  in  the  cities.  The  problem  is  to 
govern   them   wisely. 

The  pessimists  see  nothing  but  the  inevitable 
destruction  of  our  government  from  the  masses 
in   our   cities. 

Many  men,  with  more  property  than  judgment, 
want  the  poorer  citizens  disfranchised  and  the 
suffrage  limited.  This  can  never  be  done.  If  it 
could  it  would  not  remedy  the  evil.  Revolutions 
do  not  move  backwards.  The  State  of  Rhode 
Island  has  a  property  qualification  for  voters,  yet 
it  is  notorious  that  in  her  elections  she  is  one  of 
the  most  corrupt  States  in  the  Union.  Governors 
and  senators  have  shamelessly  bought  their  elec- 
tions.     IS^o,  fellow-citizens,  there    must   be   no  dis- 


JULY     4,     18S5.  43 

franchise ment.  Trust  the  people.  Corruption  has 
not  vitiated  the  masses.  It  has  poisoned  our 
legislative  bodies  to  some  extent  :  we  must  begin 
our   reforms    there. 

Carefully  examine  all  assessments  of  taxes ;  criti- 
cally scrutinize  all  expenditures  of  the  public 
moneys,  and  rigidly  investigate  all  charges  of 
malfeasance  in  public  office ;  visit  all  persons 
found  guilty  of  dishonesty  with  the  severest 
penalties,  and  render  them  forever  incapable  of 
holding  positions  of  public  trust;  and  let  the 
quality  of  our  condemnation  be  not  strained,  but 
be  visited  "upon  him  that  gives  as  well  as  him 
that  takes."  Hold  to  this  course  steadfastly,  and 
you  will  strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil  in  the 
government   of  our   great   cities. 

The  people  are  rightly  inclined,  and  mean  to 
vote  for  honest  and  competent  men.  The  ten- 
dency in  our  cities  for  twenty  years,  on  the  part 
of  our  men  of  culture  and  wealth,  has  been  to 
place  themselves  beyond  the  people.  Our  public 
men,  and  writers  on  public  matters,  are  continu- 
ally firing  over  their  heads,  and  addressing  some 
constituency  which  has  no  existence  except  in 
their   own   imaginations. 

The   people  in  cities  are,  like   the  people  every- 


44  ORATION. 

where,  human,  and  very  human;  and,  to  use  Mr. 
Lincoln's  words,  if  we  hope  to  govern  them  wisely 
"  we  must  keep  near  to  the  common  people."  Power 
being  in  the  people,  that  they  may  use  it  dis- 
creetly, our  first  duty  is  to  provide  proper  educa- 
tion. A  distinguished  historian  has  said  :  "  We 
have  two  educations, —  one  from  teachers,  the  other 
we  give  ourselves."  The  last  is  the  principal 
education  of  the  masses.  They  acquire  it  by  con- 
tact with  the  world,  take  much  of  it  in,  as  it  were, 
through  the  pores.  Is  it  not  important,  then,  that 
men  claiming  to  be  educated  should  be  able  to 
impart  to  the  people  information  upon  subjects 
vitally  affecting  their  well-being,  as  well  as  the 
interests  of  the  whole  community?  The  younger 
generation  should  be  especially  educated  in  Amer- 
ican history. 

Frederick  the  Great  said  to  his  son's  tutor: 
"  IN^ot  too  much  of  the  classics,  but  thoroughly 
educate  in  the  history  of  European  nations  for 
the  last  one  hundred   years." 

Yet  book-learning  is  not  everything.  Ask  the 
judges  of  our  courts,  who,  in  their  turn,  hold  the 
criminal  terms.  Who  are  the  criminals, — the  immi- 
grants of  the  first  generation,  possessed  of  little 
book    learning?  —  and   they  will    answer:   I^o,   the 


J  U  L  Y     4  ,     1  8  8  5  .  45 

generation  born  upon  the  soil,  having  had  the 
advantages,  to  a  certain  extent,  of  our  pubUc 
schools.  It  is  not  my  province  to  criticise;  I  call 
attention  to  results.  But  can  any  thinking  man 
hope  to  maintain  a  government  dependent  upon 
the  votes  of  the  people,  if,  in  the  system  of  edu- 
cation, the  youth  receives  no  moral  training?  I 
believe,  with  Thomas  a  Kempis,  "  It  is  better  to 
feel  compunction  than  know  the  definition  thereof." 
Fellow-citizens,  I  have  endeavored  to  call  at- 
tention to  the  remarkable  growth  of  our  country, 
to  the  strength  and  weakness  of  our  form  of 
government.  I  think  the  candid  critic  will  admit, 
after  a  careful  survey  of  the  history  of  the  last 
century,  that  this  government  of  the  people  has 
many  advantages  for  our  country  over  that  of 
any  other  form  in  the  world.  We  are  now,  in 
Massachusetts,  2,000,000  of  people.  During  the 
last  forty  years  a  great  change  has  taken  place 
in  the  character  of  our  population.  In  1840  only 
34,31S  of  the  population  were  of  foreign  birth. 
In  1880  there  were  443,402  persons  of  foreign 
birth,  and,  reckoning  those  of  the  first  and 
second  generations  born  upon  the  soil,  I  am 
sure  that  I  do  not  exaggerate,  when  I  state 
that   half  the  population  of  this  State  to-day  does 


46  ORATION. 

not  trace  its  origin  to  Puritan  ancestry,  but  are 
of  a  later  emigration.  One  of  our  first  duties 
is  to  assimilate  our  population.  We  live  under 
a  government  where  majorities  rule.  This  fact 
we  must  recognize.  If  any  cherish  the  delusion 
that  any  class  or  body  have  an  hereditary  right 
to  govern,  that  delusion  must  be  abandoned. 
Demagogues  and  self-seekers  must  be  ruthlessly 
crushed.  I^o  man  has  a  right  to  claim  recognition 
or  public  ofl&ce  for  what  he  has  achieved  in 
some  other  land,  before  he  became  an  American 
citizen.  Merit,  fitness,  and  fidelity  to  the  re- 
public should  be  the  test,  and  we  cannot  too 
severely  condemn  those  who  oppose  men  emi- 
nently qualified  because  of  their  race  or  religion. 
True  statesmanship  seeks  the  unity  of  the 
people  of  the  Commonwealth.  We  ought  not  to 
feel  discouraged  if  in  our  legislative  bodies  some 
men  have  been  corrupted  by  the  use  of  money, 
and  have  proved  false  to  their  oaths  and  to  their 
trust.  We  do  not  forget  that  Louis  XIV.  had 
the  courtiers  of  King  James  under  his  pay;  that 
Lord  Bacon  disgraced  his  high  office  by  accept- 
ing a  bribe;  that  the  noble  government  of  Eng- 
land has  not  hesitated  in  any  emergency  to  buy 
governors,   parliaments,    and    provincial    assemblies 


JULY4,1885.  47 

at  wholesale.  'Despair  not;  there  is  in  our 
country  a  strong  undercurrent  of  virtue,  and  a 
growing  public  sentiment,  that  inspires  us  with 
faith  that  the  people  are  being  aroused  to  that 
proper  public  spirit  which  will  insure  the  per- 
petuity of  our  institutions.  And  now,  fellow- 
citizens,  on  this  day  of  days,  let  us  not  depart 
from  this  place  without  a  grateful  appreciation 
of  what  we  owe  to  Almighty  God  for  the  bless- 
ings and  benefits  bestowed  upon  us;  and  when 
we  reflect  that  throughout  this  great  country 
fifty-five  millions  of  people  are  rejoicing  with  us 
for  the  peace,  prosperity,  and  happiness  which 
they  enjoy,  there  should  come  to  us  a  solemn 
reminder  of  the  duties  which  have  devolved 
upon  us  as  citizens  of  the  Republic.  "  I  have 
an  ambition,"  says  Lord  Chatham :  "  it  is  the 
ambition  of  delivering  to  my  posterity  those 
rights  of  freedom  which  I  have  inherited  from 
my  ancestors."  Such  an  ambition  should  be  ours. 
We  can  never  pay  the  debt  we  owe  to  the  gen- 
erations that  have  preceded  us,  but  the  genera- 
tions to  come  will  hold  us  responsible  for  the 
sacred  trust  delegated  to  our  keeping.  If  we 
desire  to  honor  the  memory  of  those  men  who 
in   the    first    epoch    won    the    great    chartei',    and 


48  OEATION. 

made  possible  the  next  great  epoch  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  let  us  cherish  self- 
government,  remembering  that  self-government 
politically  depends  upon  self-government  person- 
ally. Let  us  recall  to-day,  with  grateful  hearts,' 
the  memories  of  the  soldiers  and  statesmen  of 
the  Revolution,  who  perilled  so  much  for  the  idea 
which  this  day  commemorates  ;  nor  should  we 
be  unmindful  of  the  country  of  Lafayette,  De 
Grasse,  and  Rochambeau,  that  came  so  gener- 
ously to  our  assistance  and  made  oar  victory 
certain. 

And  while  to-day  we  cherish  the  memory  of 
the  men  of  the  Revolution  we  will  not  forget 
those  heroes  of  the  second  war  for  the  Union. 
We  rejoice  that  human  bondage  no  longer  exists 
in  all  our  territory;  and,  now  that  the  civil  war 
is  long  over,  we  forget  all  that  is  gloomy  and 
terrible  in  our  history,  for  we  are  assured  that, 
in  the  sympathy  that  wS  feel  for  the  commander 
of  the  Union  armies  in  his  great  afiliction,  the 
sorrow  is  as  genuine  on  the  southern  as  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  Potomac,  and  we  realize 
once  more  that  we  are  Americans  all.  So  long 
as  we  cherish  and  honor  the  names  of  Wash- 
ington,  Adams,   Jefferson,    and    Lincoln,    and    the 


JULY4,1885.  49 

principles  which  their  hves  exemplified,  the  Amer- 
ican Union  is  secnre,  and  there  will  arise  from 
the  hearth-stones  of  a  grateful,  happy  people, 
on  each  succeeding  Fourth  day  of  July,  at  the 
rising  of  the  sun  and  the  going  down  thereof, 
an  earnest,  heart-felt  prayer  of  thanksgiving  and 
praise,  and  far  above  the  sounds  of  other  rejoic- 
ings, the  ringing  of  bells  and  the  booming  of 
cannon,  will  be  heard  the  fervent  exclamations: 
God  preserve  to  us  the  heritage  of  the  fathers! 
Ood  save   the   American    Union! 


